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Thomas (Joseph) of Charleston and Oakland

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[[Image:Bishop THOMAS.jpg|thumb|right|Bp. Thomas of Charleston, Oakland and the Mid-Atlantic]]His Grace the Right Reverend Bishop '''Thomas (Joseph) of Charleston, Oakland and the Mid-Atlantic''' , Ed.D., (b. 1953) is a [[diocese|diocesan]] [[bishop]] of the [[Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America]]. (''Oakland'' refers to Oakland, Pennsylvania, a borough of Pittsburgh and the location of the cathedral a [[cathedra]]l for the [[diocese]]. The primary diocesan [[see ]] is Charleston, West Virginia.)
==Life==
In 1984, Metr. Philip assigned him to St. George Church in Houston, Texas, where he served as Director of Christian Education and Youth Services. While in Texas, the Archdiocese also assigned him to oversee Christian Education and then later teen activities for the churches in the Southwest Region (now the Diocese of Wichita and Mid-America). In July of 1988 Thomas was [[ordination|ordained]] to the [[deacon|diaconate]] by [[Archbishop]] [[Michael (Shaheen) of Toledo]].
On [[August 28]], 1994, Bishop [[Antoun (Khouri) of Miami|Antoun (Khouri)]] ordained Dcn. Thomas to the [[priest]]hood, and Fr. Thomas served as assistant pastor at his [[parish ]] in Houston until August of 1996, when he was appointed pastor of St. Nicholas Antiochian Orthodox Christian Church in Pinellas Park, Florida (near St. Petersburg).
Between 1996 and his consecration to the episcopacy, Fr. Thomas served in multiple capacities aside from his work as a pastor. He was an appointed member of the Archdiocese Youth Department Board; Spiritual Advisor to the Teen SOYO (Society of Orthodox Youth Organization) Southeastern Region; Chairperson of the Tampa Bay Orthodox Clergy Association; Director of Programs in Pastoral Bioethics for the International Academy of Bioethics and Philosophy of Medicine in the United States; Speaker at Braunels, Germany, and at City University of Hong Kong on Bioethics; author of published articles on Christian Bioethics; Speaker at Antiochian Village and third session camp priest for many years; past President and Vice President of the Tampa Bay Council of Orthodox Churches. In July 2002, Fr. Thomas was granted a Master of Arts degree in Applied Orthodox Theology jointly from the Antiochian House of Studies and the [[St. John of Damascus Institute of Theology (Tripoli, Lebanon)|St. John of Damascus School of Theology ]] of the University of Balamand in Lebanon.
On [[February 15]], 2004, Fr. Thomas was elevated to the rank of [[archimandrite]] by Bp. Antoun, and on [[December 5]], 2004, he was [[consecration of a bishop|consecrated ]] to the [[bishop|episcopacy]] by [[Patriarch]] [[Ignatius IV (Hazim) of Antioch]] in Damascus, Syria.
Bp. Thomas was enthroned as Bishop of Oakland and the East at St. George Cathedral in Pittsburgh (Borough of Oakland), Pennsylvania, on [[May 6]], 2005. In August of 2006, Bishop Thomas was awarded received a Doctorate in Education from California Coast University. His Grace also sits on the editorial board of ''Christian Bioethics''. In 2006, the Church of St. George in Charleston, West Virginia, purchased a chancery for the diocese, and in October of that year was elevated to a cathedral, thus adding another see to Bp. Thomas's the diocese and renaming it to the ''Diocese of Charleston, Oakland and the Mid-Atlantic''.
His Grace's residence is at the diocesan chancery in Charleston.
==External links==
*[http://www.antiochian.org/Regions/eastern.html East Diocese of Charleston, Oakland and the EastMid-Atlantic]
*[http://www.antiochian.org/1105462907 The Road From Damascus: A Report from the Delegation to Damascus to Consecrate Three New Bishops for North America] (at which Bp. Thomas was consecrated), by Fr. [[John Oliver]]
*[http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05126/500000.stm Bishop of Oakland, East to be enthroned tonight], from the [http://www.post-gazette.com/ Pittsburgh Post-Gazette] ([[May 6]], 2005)
[[Category:Bishops]]
[[Category:Bishops of Oakland (PA)]]
[[Category:Bishops of Charleston]]
[[Category:21st-century bishops]]
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